'Mucks' killing the ball and the game

Pickpocket: George Smith is one of the great pilferers in world rugby. Photo: Getty Images

Former Wallabies centre Andrew Slack asked me at a press conference on Monday about the offside situation in our game and how he had observed that there was an issue in this space at this time.

It was a shrewd and accurate observation with the officiating of the offside rule obviously a key part of making our game work while also being a spectacle for the fans.

However, offside is just one of a number of elements determining how a game will be played and look. For me there are three officiating areas I think are crucial to the game. These include the refereeing of the tackle/ruck, the enforcement of the offside rule at each phase and the officiating of the kick chase.

Pleasingly, the referees and coaches all agree that these are crucial elements in ensuring our game works and we have been progressing over the past few years to get consistency at the SANZAR level at least.

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Importantly, the fans need to be able to watch the game, and feel like they are seeing a similar type of game week-to-week and that there are not too many surprises where you have to ask the person beside you what a penalty was for.

Nothing makes a game better than by having a strong referee at the tackle and ruck area. By strong, I am referring to being consistent in refereeing the myriad things that occur at each breakdown.

But, for me it's pretty simple. If the tackler is made to roll away then you are a chance of seeing some ball movement.

I once attended a coaching conference in Britain, and a well-known Kiwi coach introduced me to the concept of "mucks". The issue was dogging the game a long time ago where essentially rugby had become a series of ongoing rucks as it was near impossible for the ball to be cleared, and if the halfback got his hands on the ball he would be tackled and so the muck continued. This was less than one pass rugby.

Gladly, we have evolved significantly but the tactic of slowing the ball is still a part of every team's defensive preparations. Slow the ball and you buy time to get your defence in position. If you are good enough, the Liam Gills and George Smiths of the world will even take it from you. This skill is done in a split second, and while not unique to them, they are two players who have great instincts and timing to take advantage of the little window that exists.

The ball can also be slowed by many other interesting tactics, which include falling on the ball, counter-rucking and very specific infringements that make it difficult to play and referee.

A quick look at the statistics show us that the two best teams in the competition at doing this are the Chiefs and the Brumbies. Understanding this and having counter-measures are an important part of the coaching process. Pleasingly, we are halfway through this treacherous stretch after beating the Chiefs last week so now all eyes turn to the Brumbies.

Enforcing the offside rule is another aspect that is critical to making the game work. The name of any game is to create time and space for the attack to work in. Without this space the creative element of the game disappears.

One of the greatest differences between league and union is that league doubled the space between the attacking and defensive lines to allow some level of creativity.

For the most part, union is tight anyway. Even from lineouts, where the space is at its greatest, you do not see much first phase success because team's defensive systems are so good. In phase play, where most of the game gets played, the space is not great and is made significantly worse if teams are allowed to inch forward and start their defence mid-ruck instead of at the last feet.

In this instance, if you want to see the ball get to the wing then the only way it will happen is if you stand deeper or you have high skill passing players who can take the line on. The easiest response is to stand deeper but the problem is that you will never get across the advantage line so effectively you play backwards in attack. As a result, it's not long before the players and coaches work out that kicking the ball might be a better strategy.

On the topic of kicking, the third plank that makes the game work is when you kick the ball and no one in front of the kicker is allowed to advance until they are put onside. This is very different to rugby league but it's crucial to making rugby work. If this is strictly enforced, you get to see counter-attack because the team receiving the kick has time and space to run if they choose.

In terms of seeing the game at its best and all the elements that make up running rugby, then these three aspects need solid and consistent attention. The strength of the referee and his assistant referees are as important as the laws themselves.

I have always been of the opinion that it's easier to create a game around defence because in effect you don't need to worry about the distraction of what to do with the ball. That's not to say that attack should get an armchair ride but an investment in attacking skill needs to be rewarded as much as the physicality of defence.

The ideal game gets a balance of the two, and all the fans can be happy. Pleasingly, the competition generally gets won by the teams just as strong in both attack and defence. I just hope this is still the case at the end of the season.

40 comments so far

Nice work Link, give the refs something to concentrate on against the Brumbies. I'd say nice and subtle but it was far from that. Let the mind games begin before the real game....

Commenter

dan778

Date and time

April 17, 2013, 10:28PM

Well timed article to try and influence the ref. I say poor form Ewan using your column to specifically target the opposition team you play on the weekend. And I usually like what you put out.

Commenter

Tomikin

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

April 17, 2013, 11:30PM

are not penalties in rugby the biggest insult to human intelligence river invented? A guy is stuck with people lying on him? Roll away! He obviously can't 6 times out of 10. Whistle! Boring and timeconsuming kick at goal (a big difference from league, where the incentive is to go for the try. And the penalty goal for some fat bloke falling over at a scrum, which resulted from? - someone dropping the ball! There a some teams, eg England, that you'd swear would be better off dropping the ball all the time to get a scrum penalty. Can no one see the stupidity of this? I write as a rugby fan wondering how rugby competes against league, which is completely irrelevant as an international sport(ie no one else cares - just a few yobs in Yorkshire andLancashire, and a handful of PAC Islanders in Auckland)

Commenter

Rob

Location

Canberra

Date and time

April 18, 2013, 4:04AM

@ Rod

You don't think that 'some' players deliberately put themselves in such position as you described....like yeah, there's NO way a player would do THAT because that would be cynical play, eh ?

As you are not a Queenslander I would think that you should be able to reason this one out !

Commenter

Machooka

Location

inner west sydney

Date and time

April 18, 2013, 12:05PM

Rob, I'm afraid your line of argument is not correct. "6 out of 10 times they can't roll away"This is a professional sport played by elite athletes. Players are taught EXACTLY how to tackle, and EXACTLY where to end up. Where they end up is no accident. Watch the kiwis that all end up lying exactly parallel to the sidelines and getting to their feet slowly as the half back picks up the ball. The way people tackle, how and where they exert force, is all a trained skill. They end up exactly where they want to with the intent of slowing down the oppositions ball and testing the referees limits. If they get away with it their team benefits. The referee prefers not to blow a penalty as that is his goal (not to ruin the game). So it becomes a delicate balancing act. Don't blame the rules, don't blame the ref, it is the coaches instructions that give you the current results. The best thing that can occur is for a referee to blow 3 penalties in the first 10 minutes to set the tone for the day at the breakdown and offside lines and let the teams react to that. That will get you the best game to watch.

Commenter

Finerdetails

Location

Sydney

Date and time

April 18, 2013, 12:15PM

Rob, I'm a rugby fan who constantly scratches my head over how league gets so much media in Australia. It is such a dull, repetitive sport. The main incentive in league is not to go for tries. The incentive is to 'complete sets', avoid mistakes and never miss tackles. It is such a claustraphic sport, stuck within a structure which denies creativity or risk taking. Last weeks' super rugby matches were far more entertaining than anything the NRL threw up. And yet hardly any media comes our way? I don't get it, and I grew up a leaguie.

Commenter

James

Location

sydney

Date and time

April 18, 2013, 6:04PM

I actually think we need to look at what Leagues done with having a couple of different referees involved. The touch judges are a mess and they only really get involved if they think they see a yellow card, and even then there usually over reacting. Would love to see a ref focusing on the rucks and malls and the main ref fully concentrated on the other areas.

A big example is the Brumbies vs Highlanders last week. The Highlanders had a try ruled out for a forward pass. It was so bloody obvious is actually negligent that the linesmen on that side didn't rule no try himself. Look at the replays he was smack there inline, if he couldn't tell that was forward he needs a new profession.

Another great article, thanks Ewen. I don't think it would happen but you and Jake White would be the dream team to take over the Wallabies. It worked for Hanson/Graham.

Commenter

paul

Location

Hong Kong

Date and time

April 18, 2013, 6:07AM

Paul - you are so right about that. I was screaming at the touch judge. How the hell did he not notice the blatantly forward pass? It was only picked up after the ref asked the TV official to check on it - ridiculous! That touch judge should be dropped. Mistakes like that can cost a team a game. I also agree with Rob in Canberra about penalties and penalty kicks. I reckon they should make those kind of indiscretions a short arm penalty only, so that a shot at goal is not an option. That would make for less time wasting and more action. We want tries not penalty goals!

Paul I don't agree going down the League way, I believe we need less rules. The way our game is under the microscope and being so pedanticonly slows down the game, frustrates everyone. In essence Rugby is a great spectacle as the ball in theory is always alive, we or more importantly the IRU has tried givingb the game more equilibrium at the expense of the game itself. The Northern hemisphere played a forward orientated game, the South a more backs orientated with the exception of the ABs' and the Boks who played a highly physical game.If you got caught in a ruck you got rucked of the ball, now players lay in front knowing they are safe from rucking and may or may not get penalised for not rolling away and slowing clean ball. Having to enter rucks from a key hole from the back alsom sanitises the game. Football(Soccer has less rules than League or Rugby) and still looking at new ways of making it more transparent. Rugby has 4 referees , field referee, linesmen, tmo. Give the man in the box more say as he /she has the best view of all apart from the man on the field.